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Lakers hope to be in title hunt at crossover
By Joe Hansen, Sports Writer
Thursday, December 18, 2008 | No comments posted.
If the Southwestern Oregon Community College men’s basketball team wants to know where it stands in the NWAACC, this weekend’s crossover basketball tournament, hosted by the Lakers, will be the best chance yet.
This year’s crossover, a rotating-location tournament that pulls two squads each from the NWAACC North, East, West and South divisions for an eight-team bracketed tournament, looks to feature a good cross-section of the NWAACC.
“What makes these tournaments kind of fun is you get somebody from each region that you don’t normally get to play,” said Southwestern coach Trevor Hoppe. “It would be a great chance for people to come out and see teams from Oregon and Washington play some great basketball.”
The NWAACC North’s Bellevue, at 8-1 and ranked No. 1, joins 6-0, No. 4 Tacoma from the West as the two top teams to come to Coos Bay this weekend. The rest of the field consists of Southwestern (4-5) and Umpqua (3-4) from the South; Edmonds (0-2) from the North; Blue Mountain (2-4) and Treasure Valley (0-5) from the East; and Pierce (3-6) from the West.
Southwestern comes into the tournament a game below .500 after a tough nonleague run. Two of the Lakers’ five losses came at the hands of No. 5 Lower Columbia and No. 6 Spokane — both by single digits. After going 2-0 to start the season, Southwestern dropped four in a row, including the two losses to ranked teams and a doubleheader at College of the Redwoods. Since then, the Lakers have fallen only to an alumni team from Lane.
“We’re a young team and we’ve played a tough schedule,” said Hoppe. “We’ve been getting better each week, that’s what it’s all about. We’re looking forward for another good week of basketball to help us get ready for conference.”
Southwestern graduated four starters from last year, and suffered the loss of one of its leaders in sophomore forward Kevin Reynolds, who’s out for the season with a thumb injury. The Lakers now are working their way into a style of play that features heavily a pressure defense and fast break. Hoppe subscribes to the old basketball wisdom that good defense keys good offense.
“We want to play fast, and to do that we have to defend and rebound. When we’re able to win the rebound battle, we’re able to run the fast break,” he said.
Scoring has been a team effort; Southwestern’s leading scorers are freshman forward Justin King and sophomore Alex Demith, who average just 13 and 12 points a game, respectively.
“Everybody’s played well in spurts,” said Hoppe. “I don’t know that we have that one guy who stands out. I think we can go 9 or 10 deep and a lot of guys can step up.”
The Lakers start the crossover tournament Friday night at 7 p.m. against Edmonds, a team Hoppe knows next to nothing about. After that, Southwestern will play games both Saturday and Sunday, times to be determined by where the team ends up in the bracket.
The rest of Friday’s schedule includes Pierce against Umpqua at 1 p.m., Treasure Valley facing Bellevue at 3 p.m. and Blue Mountain battling Tacoma at 5 p.m.
Prices for each day are $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.
This year’s crossover, a rotating-location tournament that pulls two squads each from the NWAACC North, East, West and South divisions for an eight-team bracketed tournament, looks to feature a good cross-section of the NWAACC.
“What makes these tournaments kind of fun is you get somebody from each region that you don’t normally get to play,” said Southwestern coach Trevor Hoppe. “It would be a great chance for people to come out and see teams from Oregon and Washington play some great basketball.”
The NWAACC North’s Bellevue, at 8-1 and ranked No. 1, joins 6-0, No. 4 Tacoma from the West as the two top teams to come to Coos Bay this weekend. The rest of the field consists of Southwestern (4-5) and Umpqua (3-4) from the South; Edmonds (0-2) from the North; Blue Mountain (2-4) and Treasure Valley (0-5) from the East; and Pierce (3-6) from the West.
Southwestern comes into the tournament a game below .500 after a tough nonleague run. Two of the Lakers’ five losses came at the hands of No. 5 Lower Columbia and No. 6 Spokane — both by single digits. After going 2-0 to start the season, Southwestern dropped four in a row, including the two losses to ranked teams and a doubleheader at College of the Redwoods. Since then, the Lakers have fallen only to an alumni team from Lane.
“We’re a young team and we’ve played a tough schedule,” said Hoppe. “We’ve been getting better each week, that’s what it’s all about. We’re looking forward for another good week of basketball to help us get ready for conference.”
Southwestern graduated four starters from last year, and suffered the loss of one of its leaders in sophomore forward Kevin Reynolds, who’s out for the season with a thumb injury. The Lakers now are working their way into a style of play that features heavily a pressure defense and fast break. Hoppe subscribes to the old basketball wisdom that good defense keys good offense.
“We want to play fast, and to do that we have to defend and rebound. When we’re able to win the rebound battle, we’re able to run the fast break,” he said.
Scoring has been a team effort; Southwestern’s leading scorers are freshman forward Justin King and sophomore Alex Demith, who average just 13 and 12 points a game, respectively.
“Everybody’s played well in spurts,” said Hoppe. “I don’t know that we have that one guy who stands out. I think we can go 9 or 10 deep and a lot of guys can step up.”
The Lakers start the crossover tournament Friday night at 7 p.m. against Edmonds, a team Hoppe knows next to nothing about. After that, Southwestern will play games both Saturday and Sunday, times to be determined by where the team ends up in the bracket.
The rest of Friday’s schedule includes Pierce against Umpqua at 1 p.m., Treasure Valley facing Bellevue at 3 p.m. and Blue Mountain battling Tacoma at 5 p.m.
Prices for each day are $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.
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